The Elements series is officially out of KDP Select, to which I can only say a loud, heartfelt THANK GOD.

After a couple years of slow output on my end, the sales of the Elements books had plateaued a bit, so I decided it was time to shake things up. A fellow writer swore up and down that Kindle Unlimited was a godsend for a series that had begun to stagnate, so I shrugged, said what the hell, and gave it a try. It was only three months of being exclusive to Amazon. Ninety days in which KU subscribers could discover the series and read it for free, all while I was paid for every swiped page. It couldn’t hurt, right?

I’m pleased to report that it did not work. No, that’s not a typo. While I would have been perfectly happy to spend the last three months rolling in money, I always felt a bit squicky about the whole thing. I have very Strong Feelings about encouraging Amazon’s dominance of the ebook market. Mainly, that no one should encourage it. I felt guilty enough when I abandoned my Nook for the superior Kindle.

The three-month experiment wasn’t a failure. I picked up some new readers. The money was okay, but I was actually making more per month on Amazon before I went Select (those fractions of cents per page read take a damn long time to add up). And now that I’m out again, I’ve noticed no decrease, either. I suspect the results would have been better if I’d done lots of promo aimed at KU readers, but that wasn’t where I wanted to spend my time and energy.

And while I was in KU, I lost traction at the other vendors. I’m not starting at the bottom, but I’m not picking up where I left off, either. It will even out eventually, but damn is it a pain in the ass right now. It turns out I may have to do promo, after all. Cue world-weary sighs.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about publishing–and it may be the only thing–it’s that there is no one way to do this. It changes not just with every writer, but with every genre, every series, every year. KDP Select has been great for some writers. It was recommended to me by a romance writer who throws her backlist into KU every few months and usually gets results. Her way wasn’t my way. (And really, if all writers/creatives/humans just tattooed themselves with that variation of that phrase, we could save a lot of time.) KU wasn’t my way, and I’m rather relieved about this. Now I can move on to the next strategy.

Spoiler! I’ve already chosen the strategy: I’m going to publish the (final!) Elements book this year.

The problem with promising to write a post every Friday is, first, you must remember when it’s Friday. Even when I’m not writing, I work freelance, so days of the week run together. There are good things about this (I don’t dread Mondays, for instance), but it also means I spend much of my life blinking in confusion when people tell me what day it is.

But today, I have remembered! It is Friday, and there is an update!

First up, Elements #5. This is kind of a big one. It’s the last book in the series, and I want to make sure I do justice to the world and the characters. They deserve a good ending. And that means, right now, I need to step away for a couple months. I want to come at the series with a clear mind, and I want to be able to give it my full attention. Right now, I’m the proverbial headless chicken, running around with a gazillion other projects on the go. My writing schedule for 2016 has me starting Elements #5 in March 2016. I’m not setting any release dates, but the goal is to get it out late next year, since that’s pretty much the point of a writing schedule.

About those vague “other projects”—well, I have the new fantasy series I’ve been talking about for TWO FREAKING YEARS. I keep saying I’ll publish it, then I decide to do another draft. Guess what I’ll be doing in 2016? Yep, another draft! So I probably won’t mention it again until I have something concrete to report.

Sometimes it’s frustrating to write these updates. There’s stuff going on, all the time, but there’s not always a lot to show for it. Books take time to write, then a damn long time to publish, and even longer if you decide to send one through the agent circuit—and past experience has taught me that sometimes it’s better to wait till you have specific news rather than post a vague “it’ll be available someday!” You know, like I did above.

But I’ll keep writing, and keep posting whenever there’s news. Which there will be, someday. Just don’t ask me what day it is when that happens.

Very quick recommendations!
I’m not really watching anything new this year, so let’s skip over that and go straight to music, because I found a few things I LOVE.

I think everyone is talking about Alessia Cara, but if somehow you missed “Here,” her ode to the glories of being an introvert, check it out right now. The whole album dropped last week, and it’s definitely worth a listen. It’s young and poppy and R&B, and if you don’t bob your head while listening, you have far more control than I do.

And if you like Elle King’s “Ex’s and Oh’s” but have a hard time believing Rob Schneider’s daughter as a bad-ass bitch, check out Gin Wigmore. Gravel & Wine is worth every cent of the $5.99 iTunes is asking. Clearly influenced by Amy Winehouse, but with more of a rock sensibility and the occasional dip into rowdy country. It’s been one of my unexpected discoveries this year and I’m trying to convince everyone I know to give it a try. So go! Try it!

These updates dropped off while I was recovering from surgery, but I’m back! Back to remembering late Thursday night that I’m supposed to write an update!

First of all, this week marks the start of the Amazon experiment. For 90 days, the Elements series will be exclusive to the retail behemoth. If you’re still catching up with the series and don’t have a Kindle, it’s okay–I’ve got you covered.

I’m spending the next few months working on some other projects. I lost a lot of time while I was ill, and the Elements series isn’t the only thing I’m catching up on. But I promise, book 5 is coming! You know I’ll keep you updated as soon as there’s something concrete to report.

And, as always, there are books:Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. You know me, right on the cutting edge of what’s new and fresh. This has been on my to-read shelf for *cough*mumble* years, but with returning health comes returning focus, and I found myself craving something long and meaty, where I could dive into fabulous prose and stay there a while. This book more than fits the bill, though there’s a good chance I’ll still be reading this next week.

East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta. Oh, you know. Your typical western sci-fi apocalyptic graphic novel. That old trope. It took me a few pages to settle into the storytelling, but by the end of the first volume I couldn’t read fast enough. It’s violent and pretty disturbing in places, so not for everyone, but I’m looking forward to reading volume 2.

And TV:
So far, the only new show I’ve picked up this year is Quantico, which I’ll watch until the gazillion questions raised overwhelm the answers being provided. Still, for now I have hope the showrunners can keep the crazy to sustainable levels.

And music:
I often listen to soundtracks while I work (songs with lyrics tend to confuse the words in my brain), and my latest addition is Pawn Sacrifice by James Newton Howard. I was already a fan of Howard’s work (The Hunger Games series, The Dark Knight), so I was predisposed to like it. It’s slow and moody, and fairly short for an original soundtrack. Though it alternates between sparse and lush, the entire work fits together perfectly, every note deliberate.

And when I need to get moving at the end of the day, I’ve been playing Turnpike Troubadours, a bit of Texas red dirt country that makes me want to drink beer and drive a big red truck (not at the same time, of course).

Any discoveries of your own? Find me on Twitter or Facebook and let me know!